We'll be paying our first visit to sydney, flying in on sat, 1 jan and leaving on sat nite, 8 jan. We don't plan on renting a car so we'll definitely need public transport. We're staying at the Y on the Park sat, sun and mon nites, taking the train to the blue mtns (staying tues and wed nites and expecting to use the explorer bus in the mtns) and then coming back to sydney for thurs and fri nites.
I've read about all sorts of different transport passes and the sydney and beyond smartvisit cards. Please help me sort all these options out. Are they a good deal for us or are we better off touring "a la carte"? We want to see as much as we can, but mix in a little bit on relaxing time; we'll just have finished 3 weeks touring new zealand. Advice is greatly appreciated.

Hello,

Looks like u will have 4 full days in Sydney, plus a bit. My advice would be to buy a commuter ticket valid for 7 days that lets you ride all buses, trains and ferries within a given area.
They are named by colour and a green pass costs $40 oz and will take you to pretty much anywhere u could want to go including the North Shore, Manly and Bondi. A red pass excludes the Manly ferry and is $32 but return to Manly is $12 so that extra $8 is worth it.

I know you won't be in the metropolitan area for 7 days but a one day pass giving access to the standard transport network is about $14 I think so you can do the sums! There are some passes for tourists that let you use a special explorer bus and also include the train from the airport. But you might be taking a taxi anyway - and it really depends on whether you mind walking a little. The tourist "explorer" passes cost a lot more.

You can check all the detail on the STA website www.sta.nsw.gov.au.

I loved having a travel pass when I needed one for work - hop on, hop off, effectively free transport at the weekends. Now I drive to work and just have a "Travel 10" (a bus carnet)which could be another option for you.

Hope you enjoy wonderful Sydney!

Hi Alice. Thanks so much for the info. The green pass seems a good way to go and it looks like we should buy the return train ride from the airport as well. Would the ticket to Katoomba be a totally separate one or could we add it on to the pass?
Also, do you know anything about the sydney smartvisit card? It includes free visits to lots of different places with the option of including transport, but I don't know if it's a good deal. Thanks again for your help!

Katoomba ticket will be separate...buy a blue mountains explorer link ticket at the railway station.

The day tripper ticket (for ferry/bus/train) is $15 a day.It has quite a few discount entitlements.Also there are discount vouchers in the back of the official sydney visitors guide (airport or george st visitors centre in the rocks)

I think the day tripper is a good way to go.

Thanks very much. Does anyone have any recommendations as to the smartvisit card?

I think you would be better served by using the discounts from your day tripper and the sydney visitors guide (visitors guide is free)